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Vision

To help transition Japan to a peace promoting post-carbon country while enjoying every step of the process.僕のビジョンは、祖国日本で、平和文化を育みポストカーボン（Post-Carbon) 社会を促進してゆく事です。化石燃料や原子力に頼らず、他国の資源を取らない、自給自足な国へのトランジションを実現させてゆきたいです。

Monday, June 29, 2015

During the Gift Ecology Pilgrimage, this guy Matt Powers wanted to meet me to interview me for his podcast "Permaculture Tonight". We met at the Sebastopol Permaculture Skills Center, and did an impromptu interview, you can hear the Japanese pilgrimage crew chowing in the back.

I don't always know what I'm talking about, but every once in a while I'll manage to say something meaningful. These interviews help me organize my thoughts a bit. I also get to feel uneasy about some of the things I said (thats now public!).

Talking with Kai Sawyer about zone 0, ourselves, our emotional, spiritual, physical states. Before we even embrace Permaculture we need to be ready - Zone 0 needs to be fertile or at least open for enrichment. Kai Sawyer is leading the urban permaculture movement in Japan. He recently organized over 30 authors and crowfunded an urban permaculture book especially for Japan.

Kai Sawyer's TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn6FUwzzo_0

Kai's blog & book: http://livingpermaculture.blogspot.com/

Matt Powers, author of The Permaculture Student, has been teaching in private & public schools in various roles for almost a decade. Matt has a BA in British & American Literature from New York University as well as a MA in Education from National University. He retains his English & History California teaching credentials as well as a permaculture design certification from Geoff Lawton’s online permaculture design course. Matt has worked one on one with some of permaculture’s greatest educators in the process of creating The Permaculture Student and now in his podcast Permaculture Tonight - such as Geoff Lawton, Rosemary Morrow, & Elaine Ingham.

Vision Statement for Permaculture Life School (Sebastopol, CA) –

“For the past four years I’ve been working at an award-winning charter high school and speaking at conferences teaching teachers about what the future of school will look like and how they can prepare their students for that future. I focused on student choice, problem solving, critical thinking and pattern literacy, but it always fell short of my expectations. When I wrote The Permaculture Student, I realized that permaculture was the backbone of what education should be globally and later I realized: not just curriculum is needed but a new kind of K-12 school.” – Matt

Hey all
Back in Hayama, Japan. Its such a beautiful place with ocean and forest (sort of reminds me of Santa Cruz, CA). The garden I left for a month is bumpin with veggies, surprise! Plant it then forget it....and come back to abundance. That's the power of permaculture design.

While on my life-changing Bay Area tour that included, visiting activists, Gift Ecology Pilgrimage, and the Nonviolent Communication Leadership Program, I was taken by my co-revolutionary Eri to a showing of Inhabit at Impact HUB Oakland. It was quite a culture shock just coming back from Japan, seeing African-American women on stage talking about social justice (especially in the wake of a series of high profile police violence incidences and media attention on persistent structural racism) to a mostly white audience. The theme was permaculture and it was an interesting discussion although I was too culture shocked and jet lagged to fully appreciate it (it was the day after I arrived from Japan).

The culture shock for me comes from the fact that I basically only see Japanese people every day, and social justice seems like a very niche subject in Japan. When I talk about it people sort of stare at me like they sort of get it or like I'm an alien that speaks really good Japanese. The recent tension around US bases in Okinawa might be growing awareness about social justice issues and structural discrimination.

From my experience around permaculture circles, I haven't really heard much about politics x permaculture, and social justice x permaculture. But it seems so fundamental! If permaculture is to have a major positive impact on society and civilization, its hard to imagine not having evolutionary engagement with these pernicious thrones that continue to wound us. Harmful politics and oppressive regimes won't just fizzle out (with or without collapse).

Things do seem to be changing though. And Oakland is a great place for this dialogue to be cultivated, along with many other cities like Detroit and LA (sorry for being US-centric, its where I'm most familiar with). The problem is the solution. We can do this, if our hearts are really into it. A world for the 100%.

Back to the movie.....

The movie INHABIT was really amazing and I wanted to share this far and wide (although I don't know if many people read this blog). Please do share this in your own capacity. Its super beautiful done, concentrated with wisdom, and an exciting (US-centric) mix of permaculture practiced in different contexts. In two words, "its awesome!"

Before the feature film, they showed the video below. Its a Oakland hip hop style garden and interview with humor and important issues woven in. I'm excited about the diversity of people that permaculture is inspiring. The plants don't discriminate and the Earth accepts all life.

As a bonus, below are my permaculture teachers back in the day. Meet them if you haven't! Its missing Yuriko Bullock who is an expert of happiness!
＊the Bullocks start at 3:10

If you haven't seen the other Global Garderners videos, definitely check them out. Bill is brilliant and it's nice to see examples of permaculture in various contexts.

Monday, June 1, 2015

日本語はこちら
*this article is being edited so it is impermanent. Please do check out the links!

The Great Adventure begins!

A pilgrimage of 14 Japanese adventurers to places founded on the principles of ecology, compassion, and social transformation in the magical Bay Area. An experiment that will change our lives in some way, and shine light on what is possible. This will be a journey of hope and inspiration, full of cross-cultural pollination.

WHAT I DO (for context)

These visits to the West Coast are an important source of inspiration for my “work” in Japan. In Japan, the title that I go by (and that people know me by) is 共生革命家(Kyoosei kakumeeka). First two characters mean co-existence or inter-being, next two mean revolution, the last is home. My purpose in life has increasingly become focused on figuring out how I can best serve humanity and the earth. I love it, what could be more meaningful than that?!!! More and more, I feel guided on this path of interdependence and liberation.

My work consists of a variety of experiments in and around Tokyo that include guerilla seed planting, guerrilla gardening, meditation flash mobs..... I also teach permaculture, compassionate communication (based on Nonviolent Communication), mindfulness, facilitation skills, gift ecology, etc. I've been experimenting with a gift economy based livelihood and that has been a really interesting journey. Almost all my workshops/presentations have no price set, there is no obligation to pay, its my gift. In fact, I want everybody to know how to live ecologically and compassionately, so I'm trying to remove as many barriers to that knowledge as possible. Money is often a major divider, so without a price, I'll get people who lost their jobs, students, professionals, and even bankers! But, I do invite people to support me if they like what I teach, what I do, or just are inspired to contribute. I was transformed by Goenka's vipassana meditation centers. They practice a pay-it-forward system, and so your 10-day meditation retreat (clean sleeping space, food, service) is already paid for! Definitely try it out!

Since I stopped living on farms, and now do my social change experiments in Tokyo and across the Pacific, I've moved back to a higher consumption (lower material production) life-style. (if you are interested in how I used to live, click here) But, I have this belief that if the work I do is meaningful, somehow I will be supported to do it. It's been 2 years, I'm thriving, and I have a diverse global support network! So this gift economy works, or more accurately, I am alive and it is the path I am now on. I'm meeting more and more people who live and practice the gift economy, like Mark Boyle in England, Pancho in Oakland, Nipun Mehta in Santa Clara, and numerous more. My brother just moved to the Possibility Alliance, which seems to be a major hub for gift economics. Exciting!!!

With my friend Eri Suzuki, we planned a tour to meet amazing sustainability activists and experience life-regenerating sites. The tour was primarily focused on urban permaculture, but then I added in agroecology, and then just had to integrate the gift economy. There is a lot of overlap here, and for me these are the foundations for the next era of humanity. The tour is also a "gift" in itself to the participants. 12 Japanese have come together to visit these sites with us and explore the gift economy, or as I now refer to it, the gift ecology. Its not just an economy. Life is a gift, air is a gift, water is a gift, sun is a gift, trees are a gift. Without these gifts, our lives would not be possible. Our economy needs these foundational "free" inputs. Without the ecosystem, our economy would not exist. So we all live in a gift ecology, but often our minds are heavily focused on the conventional economy, and one-on-one exchange. People are always giving us things too, and we are always giving others things, no matter how "poor" we are. In fact, our parents (and/or care-givers) give us so much for us to be alive today. Our life is a gift or the Earth and our human family.

Back to the tour. So, we took a leap of faith, and while there are real costs that require money, we decided to gift it to the tour participants in a similar manner as my workshops. They have no obligation to pay, but they are invited to contribute if their heart is inspired. And we extended the invitation to everybody. Lots of people are contributing to us for this experiment, people who have generously donated money, people who have offered their homes, people who are excited to make us a delicious meal, people who are in Japan helping coordinate logistics and media. It's quite the trip! It really feels like an ecology of goodness.

Our hope is that this will create a solid ripple in our consciousness. The tour is just one experiment in a larger global movement. Eri and I are changing, the participants will probably be transformed, those that give to the tour will probably experience something special, and the story will spread beyond our imagination. We are creating a new reality together. Join us! You can contribute to this experiment, start your own, or join one of the amazing people/places in the links below. The transformation comes from giving. We live in a gift ecology. Yay!

Contact us if you are wanting to be involved in someway (or leave a comment). Our response might be a bit slow but we'll make sure to get back. And if you want to contribute financially, you can donate to the experiment too! Click on the Donate button on the right of the blog and please leave a comment (we want to know what moved you!)

Below is the schedule for our pilgrimage. All are super highly recommended places (with beautiful people), so if you are in the area (or even if you are not), please go visit and experience them. These are places that demonstrate solutions. And the people are dedicated to revolutionary sustainable living and radical social change. We're all in this together.

JUNE 10 Each on their own path
After that, some will visit the magnificent Giant Sequoias and I will head to the Nonviolent Communication Leadership Program retreat (NVC). NVC has been an integral part in helping me understand the gift ecology, and committing deeper to this path.

I also want to super highly recommend Vinoba Bhave's book, "Moved by Love." He is a remarkable man that I am surprised I never knew. I heard about him from Nipun, Pancho, Satish Kumar, and a friend who started the Sloth Club in Japan, gave me this book.

More ripples to come.
Step by step, as we kiss the Earth
We can heal our hearts
and be moved a little more by love

Welcome!

ようこそ！

You have arrived to a bilingual blog about sustainability, permaculture, and peace activism. Yeah! Please leave a comment if you feel inspired.Thanks for visiting and I hope you spread the seeds:) *the ratio of English to Japanese changes unexpectedly so if there is a lot of strange foreign characters, check out older articles might have the more familiar alphabet.

About Me

A "half", as they call us in Japan, who grew up in metropolis and rural Japan, Hawaii, Santa Cruz CA, Central America, and now Orcas Island WA. Taking a stroll through the path of permaculture, mindfulness, and love. Looking for more like-minded people in Japan or people interested in transforming Japan...
百姓／平和活動家／パーマカルチャー・デザイナーのヒヨコです。ブロックス・パーマカルチャー・ホームステッド（ワシントン州のオーカス島）で弟子入り生活をしていましたが、今は東京で平和と愛を育む活動をしています。先生、仲間、プロジェクト、土地を捜しています！